Media release – Josh Willie MLC, Shadow Minister for Transport, 21 November 2023
No end in sight for Metro’s service cuts
The bus-full of problems laid bare in today’s Metro Tasmania GBE scrutiny hearings show Michael Ferguson has been asleep at the wheel as the Minister in charge of Tasmania’s largest public transport provider, and Tasmanians are paying the price.
The Minister couldn’t give a commitment or timeline to restoring services after the ‘temporary service adjustment’ PR stunt earlier this year, with no end in sight for the cancellations which are seeing Tasmanians missing out on close to 200 services a day.
It’s clear the Liberals haven’t looked after the workforce properly, which has been the root issue behind the service’s unreliability.
The Minister’s answer to Metro’s problems – he doesn’t have a crystal ball. That doesn’t cut it, as it’s his responsibility to plan for the future.
Everything Mr Ferguson oversees, fails. He’s a failed Health Minister, he’s presided over huge budget blow outs as Treasurer and he’s failed to provide Tasmanians with a reliable, modern, public transport service.
Whether it’s the underpaid mechanics, the cancelled trips, or the inability to retract and train staff, Metro is a perfect example of a government service in decay after 10 years of mismanagement by the Liberals, and something needs to change.
Media release – David O’Byrne MP, Member for Franklin, 21 November 2023
A sad day for public transport in Tasmania as Minister reveals litany of Metro failures
Transport Minister Michael Ferguson and Metro executives have been dragged over the coals during an intense morning of parliamentary scrutiny committee hearings, with the company being forced to admit safety risks, rampant cancellations, ongoing industrial relations concerns, and a cruel lack of consultation with vulnerable Tasmanians.
Franklin MP David O’Byrne said that it showed Tasmania’s primary public transport provider was collapsing at the hands of the Liberal Government who have failed to properly support the organisation.
“While Metro’s mechanical workforce was forced into taking industrial action due to being paid substantially less than the fair market rate, it was revealed that externally-contracted apprentices were working on Metro buses unsupervised,” he said.
“After initially denying it, Metro made the shocking admission during the final seconds of the hearing that at least one bus was out on the road before this work was checked by a qualified tradesperson. This is a clear safety issue that is a direct result of this Government’s refusal to listen to its own mechanical workforce and instead rely on strikebreaking contractors. Whilst I am relieved that no major incident occurred, it is more out of luck than design.
“Today, Minister Ferguson made the shocking admission that Metro didn’t consult with a single disability advocate or disability organisation before slashing 880+ services per week.
“Thousands of Tasmanians, including those with disabilities, rely almost exclusively on public transport to get around. Minister Ferguson knew that his massive service cancellations would adversely impact many people, but he deliberately chose not to consult with them before these cuts were announced.
“How hard would it have been for Minister Ferguson to pick up the phone to disability organisations to mitigate some of the impacts of these route cancellations?
“The ‘temporary’ service adjustment implemented in August which slashed nearly a thousand weekly services doesn’t appear to be temporary at all. Minister Ferguson said that services would be restored ‘when reliability improves’ but in fact reliability is worsening every week.
“We’ve still got upwards of 30 or 40 Metro services cancelled each day with some communities only getting a few minutes’ notice. It’s no wonder that Metro patronage is still 20% less than 2019 levels and that customer satisfaction with the service has plummeted – commuters are sick of being stranded by the side of the road waiting for a bus that won’t show up.
“The upgrade to the antiquated Greencard ticketing system first promised in 2018 has still not been implemented, the estimated cost has blown out from $7.5m to over $32m, and we’re still not even at a ‘trial’ phase yet after more than 5 years.”
